216 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
well acquainted with it, and willing to render us 
every assistance which his other avocations would 
admit. 
The natives of Afareaitu, and the neighbouring 
districts, were rejoiced at our coming among them ; 
they seemed a people predisposed to receive in¬ 
struction. A spacious chapel was erected prior to 
our arrival, and a large school was subsequently 
built; multitudes from other parts of the island 
took up their abode in the settlement, the school 
was filled with scholars, and the chapel well at¬ 
tended. 
The indigenous productions of the island were 
abundant in the neighbourhood, and were com¬ 
paratively cheap, as this part of the island had 
been but little visited by foreigners. When the 
flour, and other foreign articles of provision which 
we had brought from Port Jackson, were nearly 
expended, we subsisted almost entirely on native 
food ; and though most of it was rather unsavoury 
at first, it afterwards became tolerably palatable. 
Wheat is not grown in any of the islands ; it has 
often been tried, but, either from the heat of the 
climate, the exceeding fertility of the soil, or the 
absence of regular seasons, it has always failed. 
No other kind of grain, with the exception of a 
small quantity of maize, or Indian corn, is culti¬ 
vated. Flour is, consequently, now only to be 
obtained from vessels visiting the islands. It 
is, however, frequently brought from New South 
Wales, and from South or North America, and 
a tolerably good supply may, in general, be ob¬ 
tained. 
From the enumeration already given of the 
articles of diet procurable among the islands, it 
will be evident, that though neither wheat, oats. 
